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This collection has access restrictions. For
details, please see the
restrictions.

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival
material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are
physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available
through the World Wide Web. See the
Duplication Policy section for more information.

Archival processing of the James E. Wise Collection was made
possible through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The James E. Wise Collection consists of field recordings of a Saturday evening church
service held at the Rescue Mission Church, a holiness church of the Sons of God denomination,
in Lenoir, Caldwell County, N.C. The recordings were made by historian and author,
James E. Wise, while he was a graduate student in the Curriculum of Folklore at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and correspond to his 1977 thesis, "The Sons of God in the North Carolina Mountains: An Exercise in Thick Description." The recordings feature music, testimonies, and sermons by Margaret Parsons, presiding
preacher for Rescue Mission Church, Lenoir, N.C.; Bonnie Pennell, gospel soloist and
testifier; Ray Townsell, preacher and testifier; and Coy Parsons, guitarist, gospel
soloist, and testifier. Also included in the collection are tape logs and transcripts
that correspond to the audio recordings found in the collection, as well as ephemera
and transcripts that correspond to additional Sons of God field recordings found in
the North Carolina Folklore Broadcast Collection.

Use of audio or moving image materials may require production of listening or viewing
copies.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants,
as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the James E. Wise Collection #20131, Southern Folklife
Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Acquisitions information unknown (Acc. 102657, Acc. 102668).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or
confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy
laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. §
132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of
State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.).
Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to
identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent
of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under
common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's
private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable
person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no
responsibility.

The following terms from
Library of Congress Subject
Headings
suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the
entire collection; the terms do
not usually represent
discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or
items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's
online catalog.

Born in Georgia, raised in Florida and a resident of North Carolina since 1966, Jim
E. Wise is an alumnus of Duke University (BA, English) and the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill (MA, folklore). He has been a reporter, editor, and columnist
for newspapers in Durham, N.C., for more than twenty-eight years and has taught adult
classes on local and southern history for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at
Duke. His publications include
On Sherman's Trail: The Civil War's North Carolina Climax,Murder in the Courthouse: Reconstruction and Redemption in the North Carolina Piedmont,Durham: A Bull City Story, and
Durham Tales: The Morris Street Maple, the Plastic Cow, the Durham Day that Was and
More.

The James E. Wise Collection consists of 3 field recordings of a Saturday evening
church service held at the Rescue Mission Church, a holiness church of the Sons of
God denomination, in Lenoir, Caldwell County, N.C. The recordings were made by historian
and author, James E. Wise, while he was a graduate student in the Curriculum of Folklore
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and correspond to his 1977 thesis,
"The Sons of God in the North Carolina Mountains: An Exercise in Thick Description." The recordings feature music, testimonies, and sermons by Margaret Parsons, presiding
preacher for Rescue Mission Church, Lenoir, N.C.; Bonnie Pennell, gospel soloist and
testifier; Ray Townsell, preacher and testifier; and Coy Parsons, guitarist, gospel
soloist, and testifier. Recordings are on 1/4" open reel audio. Also included in the
collection are tape logs and transcripts that correspond to the audio recordings found
in the collection, as well as ephemera and transcripts that correspond to additional
Sons of God field recordings found in the North Carolina Folklore Broadcast Collection.

Tape log, ephemera, and transcripts that correspond to Sons of God church services
audio recordings created by James E. Wise with assistance from his wife, Barbara "Babs"
Wise. Please note that folders 1-2 correspond to recordings found in the James E.
Wise Collection, while folders 3-8 correspond to recordings found in the North Carolina
Folklore Broadcast Collection (#20105).